What Does Luke 21:14 Mean?
Set this therefore in your hearts, not to rehearse beforehand what you will answer.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer:THE KEY
This verse separates readiness from rehearsal: the heart is settled beforehand while the defense is left un-scripted.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to the moment before pressure asks you to explain yourself. Your heart can be settled without every sentence being prepared; the demand to rehearse a defense does not have to govern you. Readiness here is an inward placement, while the answer remains open until the moment arrives.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that you must already know exactly what to say before you can stand in a difficult moment.
THE ROOT
προμελετᾶν
promeletān
GROWS FROM
μελετάω
meletáō
to practice, attend to, or ponder; the prefix προ- (pro-) adds “beforehand.”
“meditate before” in this verse is promeletān. Here the word points to preparing or rehearsing a defense in advance, not to a ban on reflection itself. The verse distinguishes an inwardly settled heart from words rehearsed before the moment calls for them.
ALSO GROWS
meletáō: to practice, ponder, or meditate
μελετάω
The base word can describe sustained attention or practice; the prefix makes this preparation happen ahead of time.
melétē: meditation, study, or practice
μελέτη
This related noun shows the root’s range includes deliberate practice, clarifying why the verse concerns rehearsing an answer.
θέσθε
thesthe
GROWS FROM
τίθημι
tithēmi
to put, place, or set.
“set this” in this verse is thesthe. The command pictures placing something in the heart as a settled inward position. The contrast is striking: what is set inside is readiness, while the defense is not assembled in advance.
ALSO GROWS
apotíthēmi: to put away or lay aside
ἀποτίθημι
This compound uses the same placing-root for setting something aside, showing how the root can describe both inward establishment and deliberate removal.
epitíthēmi: to lay or place upon
ἐπιτίθημι
The same root describes an act of placement; here the heart receives a settled resolve before the answer is spoken.
ἀπολογηθῆναι
apologēthēnai
GROWS FROM
ἀπολογέομαι (apologéomai), from λόγος (lógos)
to speak in one’s defense; λόγος means word, account, or speech.
This is an answer made in defense, not simply a reply in ordinary conversation. The verse releases the need to have a defense ready before the moment arrives.
ALSO GROWS
apología: a defense or formal answer
ἀπολογία
This related noun makes clear that the answer in view is a defense under challenge.
lógos: word, account, or speech
λόγος
The defense is made through speech; the verse concerns what is said when a response is demanded.
THE PATTERN
Scripture repeatedly locates the needed words in the moment of speaking rather than in prior rehearsal.
And now go, and I will be with your mouth, and I will teach you what you will speak.But when they hand you over, do not be pulled apart over how or what you will say, for what you will say will be given to you in that very hour.For the Set-Apart Breath will teach you in that very hour what you must say.THE THREAD
For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all those set against you will not be able to speak against or stand against.The next verse names the alternative to rehearsing: a mouth and wisdom are given when the moment arrives. What is set in the heart is therefore readiness for what will be given, not a script already held.
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